


I Survived It All For You

by TheMoments (TBs_LMC)



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Bullied Scott, Bullying, Childhood Memories, Childhood Trauma, Confessions, Desire, Explicit Language, Falling In Love, Forgiveness, Kadara Slums, Kissing, M/M, Need and Desire, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Child Abuse, Reyes Needs Scott Like Air, Romantic Angst, Scott Needs Reyes Like Air, Survival, Triggers, True Love, gratefulness, thankfulness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29611653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TBs_LMC/pseuds/TheMoments
Summary: Three months after their kiss in the Draullir cave where Sloane Kelly met her end, Scott returns to Kadara to see Reyes, and confesses to a troubled past.WARNING: This short story contains somewhat graphic descriptions of an adult male having been bullied and abused by peers and an abusive parent when he was a child. If these images and events are disturbing to you, please do not read this story. If you or anyone you know is being bullied or abused, call the hotlines that are there to help you or them.
Relationships: Male Ryder | Scott/Reyes Vidal
Kudos: 8





	I Survived It All For You

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: This short story contains somewhat graphic descriptions of an adult male having been bullied and abused by peers and an abusive parent when he was a child. If these images and events are disturbing to you, please do not read this story. If you or anyone you know is being bullied or abused, call the hotlines that are there to help you or them. See notes at the end.
> 
> It is my hope to GIVE hope, as inspired by those I know who have survived abuse and bullying, to find that life after, is indeed possible.

**I SURVIVED IT ALL FOR YOU**

* * *

“I…would have thought given who your father was that no one would dare bully you or your sister.”

Scott huffed out a mirthless laugh. “Actually, it was the opposite. Alec Ryder, big man in the Alliance military,” he replied bitterly. “First Contact War, badass hotshot, N7, the whole nine.” Suddenly he felt like he just wanted to crawl out of his skin, unable to believe he was sharing something like this with the fucking Charlatan of all people. “And me, exactly the opposite of everything he was, everything he stood for.” Wonderful thing for such a shady bastard to hold over the human Pathfinder’s head, right?

Only once Reyes’ apology for being late to meet him at his own apartment had turned out to be because he was putting down a bullying incident between an angaran and a human there in the slums, the words had all started tumbling out of Scott as if the dam had burst, the wall holding his entire childhood back behind twelve layers of titanium busted clean through by probably the one man in Andromeda he _shouldn’t_ be confiding in.

Reyes’ eyes were intense. Burning, if Scott had to find a label. He looked away, but the words would not _stop_ _coming_.

“The first time I brought one of my dates by to meet my family, my father was enraged. Beat me to within an inch of my life in spite of my mom’s protests. Kicked me out, held up Golden Twin Sara as the standard I should be living by. Hilarious that we both liked guys. Not funny that it wasn’t acceptable in me because I was one, too.”

* * *

Reyes’ fingers twitched. He wanted to cross the room in three strides, grab Scott Ryder by the shoulders, force him into an embrace, promise him that the next person who dared hurt him would meet the business end of his weapon personally, rather than Sloane-style.

But he couldn’t move, riveted to the anguish pouring off the man in waves. He knew Scott had to let this out, because as perfect and beautiful as he was pacing before him right now, Reyes had seen the pudgy, acne-ridden photos from Scott’s past when hacking his way through finding out more about him, that had begun a school career of being hated on and put down, which only got worse when it was discovered he wasn’t into girls at all.

“The only reason I’m in Andromeda,” Scott finally confessed, coming to a stop near the front door, hands balled into fists, “was because it was the only way my dad could figure to apologize to me for…what did he call it?..not supporting me better during my rebellious teen years.” He balled his fists three times in a row. "And because here, as the Pathfinder, he could _control_ me." He laughed but there was zero mirth in it. "Joke turned around and bit him in the ass."

The Pathfinder turned and slammed the side of his right fist into the wall so hard it actually left a dent in the metal. Reyes felt a spike of fear but it was a thrill, not a deterrent. This was a strong, resilient man before him. The very same man who had allowed him to shove him against the wall of a cave. Whose taste in men he had questioned. Whose lips had been upon his, whose face he had cradled like at last he had found the most precious gift in any galaxy and wasn’t going to let him go for anything.

And yet when his squad had come running into the cave thinking the Charlatan had done him in or something, the two had parted as if hot coals had landed between their bodies. This was the first time they’d met since, some three months after Scott admitted he had the worst taste in men. Three months after _that look_ from impossibly blue eyes as they’d had to part ways in that cave. The look that begged him not to go, begged his own self not to have to leave for _Tempest_.

Scott leaned his forearm against the wall like he was trying to help it hold him up. “All those years,” he whispered, then suddenly stood straight and tall, and turned to face Reyes. “If they led me here to Kadara…to you…then…I accept it all gladly.”

Reyes moved forward a few steps. Hesitated. “You cannot say what anyone did to you was right, your father least of all, no matter the reason,” he hissed, anger failing to keep itself hidden.

Blue eyes met amber. Reyes felt himself go weak in the knees and knew in that instant it was over. The Pathfinder had his heart and there was no getting out of it. Even if he flew six hundred years back to the Milky Way, this man would stay forever under his skin, tearing every aspect of him to shreds with a compassion-filled ferocity that only Scott Ryder could manage to wield.

This…this _love_ …was the most glorious and gut-wrenching sensation he’d ever experienced. He would relinquish it for nothing. For no one. Not even for Scott.

* * *

“You’re wrong,” Scott countered, closing the space between them. He reached out tentatively. He _wanted_ , agony searing a blazing path from his head to his chest to his groin as desire consumed him, flaring his biotics, and oh, how he wished to turn the tables, slam Reyes against the wall, take him in every way a man could take another. Ruin him for anyone not Scott Ryder.

How could they have traveled so far, separately, and still found each other here? The series of events that had conspired to bring them together? No, it was no accident. Scott felt his fingers twitch. In a fleeting glance, noticed a telltale hitch in Reyes’ breathing.

“I would gladly live through a thousand of those childhoods,” Scott stated, swallowing thickly around his words, “if it meant I found you at the end of that road.” He felt his eyes moisten as Reyes’ jaw dropped and he seemed to stop breathing altogether.

“I want to be the man you need me to be.”

Scott at last allowed himself to reach out, fingertips grazing Reyes’ jaw. The Charlatan closed his eyes, inhaled sharply, reopened them and they were on _fire_.

“You already are, Reyes.”

* * *

Something inside him snapped hard, almost audibly, and Reyes pushed Scott all the way to the door, forcing him to hit it so hard that the impact might have broken another man’s ribs. But Scott, as though made of sterner metals than his ship, immediately flipped him and Reyes’ hands rose to the Pathfinder's cheeks.

Their lips crashed together and the King allowed himself to be dominated, treasured, _loved_ in a way that he had never experienced. By the only man who would ever know what it was like to have this kind of power over him.

He clung to Scott just to remain upright, lost forever in a crazed haze of _need_.

Perhaps one day soon he would confess to Scott what his own childhood had been like. How ruthless he’d had to be from an early age. The sometimes-awful things he’d had to do to survive. How he had wished and practically begged the heavens for an end to his misery. An end that never came. Until now.

_I watched the stars here on Kadara every single night. I waited for them to bring me salvation. They brought it to me, mi regalo, mi tesoro. They brought me you._

* * *

Scott couldn’t believe that the King of Kadara was allowing this, placing this much trust in the hands of the Initiative’s Golden Boy, kissing him back, clinging to him as though he couldn’t stay upright otherwise.

He poured all of his past pain into where their lips met. When Joey had split his lip as soon as he found out Scott wanted to kiss a boy. When Malcolm had knocked him unconscious with a kick to the head because Scott wasn’t skinny and perfect like him and his gang. When Lucinda and her clique had pointed fingers and giggled and spread the rumors about him all over school at the age of sixteen.

Scott wrapped his arms around Reyes, pulling him flush, feeling arousal touch arousal. Reyes moaned into his mouth and Scott drank in every last sound. The Charlatan’s hands grasped his biceps so hard he knew each fingertip was slowly bruising his flesh. He wanted to see them, to know for as long as they lasted that it was he who made Reyes so desperate.

When his father took a swing, nearly breaking Scott’s jaw right there in front of Thad. When Alec’s face had turned purple with rage. When Mom had cried as her boy had left with nothing but the clothes on his back. Left Sara screaming bloody murder at their father for what he’d done. Heard the smack that told him she’d been backhanded, but he couldn’t do anything to protect her. Helpless. Hopeless. Thad running to make sure he didn’t get caught in the crossfire.

Alone.

Reyes kissed down his jawline, his jugular, nipping, accepting, owning, marking and Scott pulled away just enough for eyes to meet eyes and it was worth it. He would keep this. It was his. No one could take it from him. Not Joey. Not Malcolm. Not Lucinda. And it was his because of his own father, who in one final act had saved the life of the son he’d once been so disappointed in. Who in one final act had told Scott everything he’d truly felt by making him the Pathfinder. Who in the end, had led Scott to this place where the man before him, who panted heavily into his mouth as their lips met again, had been waiting.

_I waited my entire life to find you. I crossed dark space looking for my salvation. He was the one who led me to you in the end, my king. He is the reason I am here. Now, living inside the dreams I’ve had my entire life. He is the reason that I am yours._

_What you did is not okay, Dad. But I forgive you because I survived. And in the end, you made sure of that._

Scott's lips touched Reyes' ear and he whispered, "I survived it all for you."

"And I," Reyes responded, pulling away to look into Scott's eyes, "for you."

No more words were spoken that night.

No more words were needed.

**Author's Note:**

> IF YOU ARE BEING BULLIED  
> HELP HOTLINE  
> 1-866-488-7386  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE  
> Chat Live: https://www.thehotline.org/  
> Call: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)  
> TTY: 1-800-787-3224


End file.
